


Self Perpetuation

by Project0506



Series: ARC Design [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Brothers, Gen, gen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:15:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23724421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/pseuds/Project0506
Summary: It isn't Rex alone building this next run of ARCs
Series: ARC Design [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1700914
Comments: 40
Kudos: 503





	Self Perpetuation

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to stop hyperlinking 'vod'. The HTML lift is just not worth it.

There’s a warm, stinging smell of something spicy and _home_ filling the barracks. Hevy’s on the edge of too tired to care, but only right on the edge.

“What?”

He’s processing slower than he could be, than he should be. His brain is a soup of chemicals and none of them the useful ones that keep you sharp and running. Those have washed away at least a quarter of an hour ago. All he has left are the ones that make the universe slough through paste, that soften the edges of his vision and wrap polycotton around sound. His next step stutters.

A shoulder curves under his arm. An arm curls around his waist.

“ _Easy_ there, vod, easy.”

They don’t make it to his bunk, though Hevy thinks they could. He lets Fives take his weight, lower it to the durasteel floor. Cold, ignorable under his boots, seep up through his fiber PT uniform and into his bones. Something soft slides under his head, above his shoulders. He didn’t realize how much pressure was on his neck until it eased. His next breath is easier.

Fingers press against his temple. The feeling, the way they move, it’s familiar.

“Need you to open your eyes for me, Hevy.”

“Captain already checked,” he retorts. The Captain wouldn’t have let him leave without checking. Fives should know that.

There’s a pause, and an annoyed breath of air. “I’m aware. Do it anyway.”

Hevy’s eyelids are heavy and peel open slowly. Fives throws shadows across Hevy’s face, has put himself in between Hevy’s eyes and the harsh overhead light. Was that on purpose?

Hevy blinks when he’s told to, follows the motion of Fives fingers. He lets his eyes slip closed when Fives moves on to pressing the backs of his thumbs against his temples and sweeping down to his cheekbones. Checking for breaks, fractures, dislocations. He’s not going to find any, the Captain checked. Fives has to know that. He goes through full procedure anyway.

Hevy had forgotten about the bruising.

Fives pauses. “Yeah?”

Hevy grunts. “Between bottom rib and hip,” he remembers. “Captain said to ice it. See Med for an anti-inflammatory.” Hevy had forgotten that too.

Fives murmurs something he can’t hear. He suspects it was an insult. That’s fair, Hevy earned it.

The ice pak stings like needles, a hundred, a thousand times worse than the floor and stabbing directly into where it hurts the most. Hevy very nearly thrashes away from it.

“Easy,” Fives soothes. He’s pinned Hevy down with a hand on his chest. “You’re fine, Hevy. An obstinate dumbass, but you’re fine.”

That one Hevy isn’t sure he deserves. He thinks he asks, but his side is starting to go comfortably numb and he’s distracted. Fives is a warm press next to him. Hevy doesn’t have to think about letting his head roll to the side, lean against Fives’ curled leg.

“The Captain says he’s been having to put you down hard,” Fives says. “It’s taking more to keep you down than it did any of the rest of us. He’s annoyed at me y’know, me and Echo both. That we didn’t drag you idiots with us from the start.”

Who would have thought to do that, though? Who would have thought they could make something elite out of _Hevy_? This was one of the dumbest plans Fives has ever had, but he’s too damn stubborn to let it fail. A little thing like ‘impossible’ has never even slowed him down. Something like dragging quality out of the rest of Domino? Doesn’t even make him hesitate.

Hevy stirs. “DB?” he asks. “Cutup? Were behind me. Where’s Echo?”

“Echo’s keeping an eye on the others. They’re fine, going to hit showers then Mess. Your dinner’s here.” That’s the smell, Hevy thinks. Gourmet’s viciously defended blend of spices. He shakes his head. He’s not up for any of that right now. Fives taps his shoulder, an acknowledgment and a promise of ‘later’. “So unclench there, Squad Lead,” he teases. “We’ll all be back in your sightline within the hour.”

“Cork it,” Hevy mutters, pleased. Fives laughs. Just for that. “If I die, Stak gets my Z6.”

“It’s _bigger than he is_ ,” Fives protests immediately, and yeah, Hevy _knew_ Fives had been eyeing it. Hevy laughs, a little, and is satisfied when it doesn’t hurt too much. “And that might be sooner than you think, I hear you report to Lt Jesse tomorrow. You’re gonna have _so much fun_.”

There’s a vicious sort of glee in Fives’ voice. Asshole.

“If I survive,” Hevy says. “Comin’ after that other pauldron. The new one. Better get it good n scuffed.”

Fives’ hand stills on his arm. Hevy won’t take the words back.

Fives hauls in a shaking breath. “Yeah vod,” he breathes. His hand curls firm around Hevy’s shoulder, solid, real, grounding, here. “Yeah I’ll get it marked up for you. Make it fast though, somebody might ask for it before you can.”

“Fuck that,” Hevy decides. Fives is a blazing spot of heat through Hevy’s thin PT shirt. “Fuck that, I’m next.”


End file.
